A one month extension to clear the bonus. Sweet jebus. I guess I will be able to clear this bonus after all. YESSSSSSSS!!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
What's the opposite of a bad beat?
In the past, clearing ironman bonuses within the month was like breathing... it got done and I didn't even have to think about it. Hell, to keep things interesting, I usually did contests against Bayne. But now, with my workouts and social life kicking in full gear, I don't have as much time playing poker... so, I came to peace with the fact that I probably won't clear my $500 ironman bonus... Until last night, I checked (just for kicks) how much bonus I am due and guess what I saw!!!
A one month extension to clear the bonus. Sweet jebus. I guess I will be able to clear this bonus after all. YESSSSSSSS!!!
A one month extension to clear the bonus. Sweet jebus. I guess I will be able to clear this bonus after all. YESSSSSSSS!!!
7 week master plan
Disclosure: This has absolutely nothing to do with poker.
Ok, so there are bazillion things I want to do. I want to do a real olympic distance triathlon... and I want to do the Vegas half. Considering that I have no desire to immerse myself in training for either, but since running tends to come more naturally for me, I am guessing that this year, I don't think I will be able to do a tri... I might find another duathlon or a sprint tri but no real distance tri for me... at least not in '09. And to answer Peaker's comment from the other day, it's just that I don't like running... and that's why you don't see running in my workout plan. Of course, in order to do the half, I'll prob have to run some but I think I can get enough cardio in through swimming and biking so I won't do much running. We'll see how that pans out.
In the meantime, few posts ago, I mentioned that I wanted to be able to bench 250lbs (free weight, obv)... sure enough, my buddy JT read the blog and emailed me, telling me he can come up with a master plan. He knew how strong (or weak, it's in the eye of the beholder, I think) I am and so he came up with this 7 week plan, full with guidance like "make sure to take at least 120g of protein on the day of and day after your chest workout." He also told me that I need to do shoulder and triceps but not within 48 hrs prior to my chest day.
Since JT is a freakin beast I decided to take him up on his offer and today was Week 1 of his 7 week master plan (Mondays from here on out will be chest days, most likely Wed/Thurs would be when I would incorporate shoulders and triceps amongst other things).
His week 1 regimen:
Flat Barbell Bench
135 x 12-15 (I did 15)
155 x 10-12 (I did 12)
205 x 4-6 (I did 4 plus 1 with help from spotter - the 50lb increase was definitely felt)
225 x 2-4 + 2-4 forced reps (basically, I ended up with 3 forced reps, ie 3 with help of spotter)
Feedback: Hmmm, maybe I'm not as strong as JT thinks I am...
Incline Dumbbell
35 x 12-15 (I did 15)
50 x 8-10 (I did 10)
60 x 4-6 (I did 6)
45 to absolute failure (I did 15)
Feedback: Considering I didn't do much incline dumbell before this and he didn't know where to start because of it, it seemed right on par. The 6th one on the 60lb dumbell was a semi-struggle.
Flat Dumbbell Fly
25 x 12 (I did 12)
2 sets of 35 x 6-8 (I did 2 sets of 8)
Feedback: I never did flat dumbbell fly (I always did the fly on the machine) so it was a little interesting but I think I could have added a little more weight.
Dips
3 sets to absolute failure (I did 13, 11, 10)
Feedback: I actually thought I could do more but I just didn't have anything left. Kinda disappointing that my first set was only 13 reps... I was certain I could do 15+.
Overall feedback: Pretty good week 1. In terms of number of exercises, this is a little less than what I usually do since I usually would also do a decline bench press. So, we'll see how this goes. Since JT is also trying to gauge my strength and process, the outer weeks can change, even though it would probably only be a slight tweak. Considering he took the time to write up a 7 week program where in week 7, I'll be doing reps of 250lbs on the bench, I will def be working hard since a) I think I can do it and b) I don't want to feel like I failed him.
This won't be easy but it will be pretty cool to be able to do 3 reps of 250lbs at which point, I can see my name go up in the weight lifting board since that would be like 150%+ of my body weight. MONEY BABY!!!!
Ok, so there are bazillion things I want to do. I want to do a real olympic distance triathlon... and I want to do the Vegas half. Considering that I have no desire to immerse myself in training for either, but since running tends to come more naturally for me, I am guessing that this year, I don't think I will be able to do a tri... I might find another duathlon or a sprint tri but no real distance tri for me... at least not in '09. And to answer Peaker's comment from the other day, it's just that I don't like running... and that's why you don't see running in my workout plan. Of course, in order to do the half, I'll prob have to run some but I think I can get enough cardio in through swimming and biking so I won't do much running. We'll see how that pans out.
In the meantime, few posts ago, I mentioned that I wanted to be able to bench 250lbs (free weight, obv)... sure enough, my buddy JT read the blog and emailed me, telling me he can come up with a master plan. He knew how strong (or weak, it's in the eye of the beholder, I think) I am and so he came up with this 7 week plan, full with guidance like "make sure to take at least 120g of protein on the day of and day after your chest workout." He also told me that I need to do shoulder and triceps but not within 48 hrs prior to my chest day.
Since JT is a freakin beast I decided to take him up on his offer and today was Week 1 of his 7 week master plan (Mondays from here on out will be chest days, most likely Wed/Thurs would be when I would incorporate shoulders and triceps amongst other things).
His week 1 regimen:
Flat Barbell Bench
135 x 12-15 (I did 15)
155 x 10-12 (I did 12)
205 x 4-6 (I did 4 plus 1 with help from spotter - the 50lb increase was definitely felt)
225 x 2-4 + 2-4 forced reps (basically, I ended up with 3 forced reps, ie 3 with help of spotter)
Feedback: Hmmm, maybe I'm not as strong as JT thinks I am...
Incline Dumbbell
35 x 12-15 (I did 15)
50 x 8-10 (I did 10)
60 x 4-6 (I did 6)
45 to absolute failure (I did 15)
Feedback: Considering I didn't do much incline dumbell before this and he didn't know where to start because of it, it seemed right on par. The 6th one on the 60lb dumbell was a semi-struggle.
Flat Dumbbell Fly
25 x 12 (I did 12)
2 sets of 35 x 6-8 (I did 2 sets of 8)
Feedback: I never did flat dumbbell fly (I always did the fly on the machine) so it was a little interesting but I think I could have added a little more weight.
Dips
3 sets to absolute failure (I did 13, 11, 10)
Feedback: I actually thought I could do more but I just didn't have anything left. Kinda disappointing that my first set was only 13 reps... I was certain I could do 15+.
Overall feedback: Pretty good week 1. In terms of number of exercises, this is a little less than what I usually do since I usually would also do a decline bench press. So, we'll see how this goes. Since JT is also trying to gauge my strength and process, the outer weeks can change, even though it would probably only be a slight tweak. Considering he took the time to write up a 7 week program where in week 7, I'll be doing reps of 250lbs on the bench, I will def be working hard since a) I think I can do it and b) I don't want to feel like I failed him.
This won't be easy but it will be pretty cool to be able to do 3 reps of 250lbs at which point, I can see my name go up in the weight lifting board since that would be like 150%+ of my body weight. MONEY BABY!!!!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Are you dating or are you paying for a hooker?
This morning, on the radio, I heard an interesting discussion. Apparently, this one guy who works at the radio station heard of an intriguing thing - there are people offering to pay for whatever the person's needs are in exchange of that person living in the house with them and "caring" for them whenever they needed care. Essentially, it was like a live-in maid who would also provide services that are beyond household chores for the right price.
Example they gave was let's say there is an attractive girl who needs to pay for her college tuition (wow, sounds a lot like the workers at the rhino working to "put themselves through law school"). The guy would pay for her college tuition. Of course, in exchange, she would take care of certain household chores but more importantly take care of him when he needed taken care of. He confirmed on the radio that "taking care of him" would entail what most listeners are imagining and that it wasn't completely ok to go into details on the radio.
The female hosts and some female listeners were absolutely disgusted by this idea. They thought he was a pig and that basically he was paying for a hooker. Of course, there were mixed thoughts on this one and there were girls that called in and said if this guy was decent looking, then something can be arranged.
I thought it was interesting, mainly because of a lot of the female arguments. They thought it was ridiculous that a girl had to put out in exchange for some fee (in this example, the tuition). They thought there's no difference between that and a guy going to a dark corner, hiring some prostitute, and doing it in the back alley (or the hotel room or whatever). The funny thing is, while all these feminists errrrr, I mean ladies were ranting about how disgusting this was, I started thinking how is this that different from dating?
Ok, yeah, I get that most people would classify it differently but is it really as different as people think it is? Hell, paying for hooker is probably like getting a girl drunk for a one night stand. Are all college girls considered hookers? Here's my thought. These ladies were all pissed off because of the notion that a guy paying for her needs is receiving sex in exchange. What do you think guys are doing when they are offering shots to women? Being nice just to be nice? Or being nice to get into their pants? If your answer is because the guy is nice, then wow... I mean, wow. How old are you, 12?
Let's see. You meet a girl, you take her out to dinner. You wine and dine her, share some stories, share some laughs, you take her home and give her a goodnight kiss. You even opened the car door for her and you were a perfect gentleman throughout the night. You don't get anything more than a good night kiss but all the guys reading this knows that it's just a set up to the next date where you're obviously going to go further. So let's see, what exactly happened here? You provided the girl what she needs (free dinner, free drinks, companionship, sense of humor, etc) so that you can get what you want ("taken care of"). I mean if the live-in maid concept is like prostitution, is dating all that different???
Yeah, yeah, I get that there are plenty of exceptions and I'm not saying that any girl in a relationship is a hooker. It's actually the complete opposite. I'm arguing that the live-in maid situation is NOT the same as having a prostitute. I mean I never had a hooker but I'm guessing the transaction goes something along the lines of you negotiate, you pay, and you have sex. She walks out the door, both getting what you wanted. Strictly business, right? In the live-in maid situation, it would be different wouldn't it? There doesn't have to be any chemistry but there needs to be some level of getting along because otherwise, it would just be annoying to live with someone and to pay for their shit if you can't hold a decent conversation. That sounds a lot more like dating, doesn't it?
I don't know, what do you all think? Am I totally off the mark? Am I a total pig? If I am, I'm ok with it... I'm not Tucker Max and I'm not trying to use this blog to get laid.
Example they gave was let's say there is an attractive girl who needs to pay for her college tuition (wow, sounds a lot like the workers at the rhino working to "put themselves through law school"). The guy would pay for her college tuition. Of course, in exchange, she would take care of certain household chores but more importantly take care of him when he needed taken care of. He confirmed on the radio that "taking care of him" would entail what most listeners are imagining and that it wasn't completely ok to go into details on the radio.
The female hosts and some female listeners were absolutely disgusted by this idea. They thought he was a pig and that basically he was paying for a hooker. Of course, there were mixed thoughts on this one and there were girls that called in and said if this guy was decent looking, then something can be arranged.
I thought it was interesting, mainly because of a lot of the female arguments. They thought it was ridiculous that a girl had to put out in exchange for some fee (in this example, the tuition). They thought there's no difference between that and a guy going to a dark corner, hiring some prostitute, and doing it in the back alley (or the hotel room or whatever). The funny thing is, while all these feminists errrrr, I mean ladies were ranting about how disgusting this was, I started thinking how is this that different from dating?
Ok, yeah, I get that most people would classify it differently but is it really as different as people think it is? Hell, paying for hooker is probably like getting a girl drunk for a one night stand. Are all college girls considered hookers? Here's my thought. These ladies were all pissed off because of the notion that a guy paying for her needs is receiving sex in exchange. What do you think guys are doing when they are offering shots to women? Being nice just to be nice? Or being nice to get into their pants? If your answer is because the guy is nice, then wow... I mean, wow. How old are you, 12?
Let's see. You meet a girl, you take her out to dinner. You wine and dine her, share some stories, share some laughs, you take her home and give her a goodnight kiss. You even opened the car door for her and you were a perfect gentleman throughout the night. You don't get anything more than a good night kiss but all the guys reading this knows that it's just a set up to the next date where you're obviously going to go further. So let's see, what exactly happened here? You provided the girl what she needs (free dinner, free drinks, companionship, sense of humor, etc) so that you can get what you want ("taken care of"). I mean if the live-in maid concept is like prostitution, is dating all that different???
Yeah, yeah, I get that there are plenty of exceptions and I'm not saying that any girl in a relationship is a hooker. It's actually the complete opposite. I'm arguing that the live-in maid situation is NOT the same as having a prostitute. I mean I never had a hooker but I'm guessing the transaction goes something along the lines of you negotiate, you pay, and you have sex. She walks out the door, both getting what you wanted. Strictly business, right? In the live-in maid situation, it would be different wouldn't it? There doesn't have to be any chemistry but there needs to be some level of getting along because otherwise, it would just be annoying to live with someone and to pay for their shit if you can't hold a decent conversation. That sounds a lot more like dating, doesn't it?
I don't know, what do you all think? Am I totally off the mark? Am I a total pig? If I am, I'm ok with it... I'm not Tucker Max and I'm not trying to use this blog to get laid.
Monday, July 20, 2009
I'm not a gym rat...
But I've been spending a lot of time devoted to exercises... of course, some of them, in my book, don't even count... like playing basketball in my mind is not an exercise... it's just what I like doing. So... my typical week goes like this...
Monday evening - I lift.
Tuesday at 7am - I play bball for 1.5hrs at the company gym.
Tuesday evening - I lift (diff areas from Mon, obv)
Wednesday evening - lift/swim
Thursday at 7am - same as Tues
Thurs evening - happy hr...
Friday at 7am - same as Tues/Thurs
Friday evening - more happy hr
Saturday - usually a pretty intense lifting day, followed by a swim
Sunday - bike 18-24 miles
I'm not big or buff by any means... I think I have a decent body... well, I've gotten compliments whenever I take my shirt off... but I have a small frame so I don't like that. I'm 6'0 and I only weigh 165lbs...
Well, the reason why I was incorporating swimming and doing 2-a-days when playing ball was because I was training for a triathlon... the thing is, it was a sprint triathlon so the distance for each leg is half of what the olympic distance triathlon is. So, my race was 300m swim/20k bike/5k run... about as short as it can be for a triathlon. Well, that was this past weekend and even though it's short, I popped my tri cherry!
I was pretty pissed off that my first transition time took so long... I had a tri top that had my bib # on and so I was trying to put that on... putting a tight top when wet is extremely difficult... and it literally took me like 2+ minutes trying to put it on, taking it off, trying again... Overall, I had a great time (not my actual time but the time I had at the race was fun) but I had way too much left in the tank at the end of the race so I was not too excited about my performance... but then again, it's my first one so I guess it's passable. I'll give it a B- for my personal grade.
I do know that I no longer have any desire to run a marathon (which at one point was on my life checklist). I will prob do a half actually... oh, for you bloggers who still read this and those of you that run (I'm pretty much talking to you and you), any interest in doing the Vegas half on 12/6? My buddy and I are doing it so you guys should join... isn't that around the winter gathering anyways?
So then this past Sunday, I did my tri... well, last night was our company league 3on3 tournament. Despite it being a company league, it's actually uber competitive and we have refs... if we can call them that... they are the same refs from the County league that I play in and they are freakin terrible. Well, in this double elimination tournament, despite losing our very first game, we actually won the next 4 games to make it to the Finals!! Of course, by then, we were totally gassed and considering we were playing against the #2 seed (we knocked off the #1 seed in the game before in OT) which was also last year's champion, and they played 2 less games than we did (because they were the #2 seed and they didn't have to go through the loser's bracket), they crushed us... during the seeding games last week, we lost to them 13-9 (it's a game to 20 by 1s and 2s or 20 minutes, whichever comes first)... last night, we got crushed in the Finals 20-4... No surprise. We were completely done after knocking off the #1 seed. Having said that, it was a total blast.
With all the workouts and my renewed social life, I've devoted a lot less time playing poker... but I'm ok with that for now.
Oh, at our company gym, there's also a list for anyone who can bench more than 120% of their weight and it is ranked by %. You have to bench the weight 3 times to qualify and so I did 220lbs 3 times, good enough to put me on the list at 132%. Of course, that puts me like 3 from the bottom but there are only about 15 guys on the list... so, my next goal is to move up that ranking. 235lbs would get me 142% which would put me on the upper half of the list so that should be my goal. Hopefully sometime in the next few months, I can get there...
Monday evening - I lift.
Tuesday at 7am - I play bball for 1.5hrs at the company gym.
Tuesday evening - I lift (diff areas from Mon, obv)
Wednesday evening - lift/swim
Thursday at 7am - same as Tues
Thurs evening - happy hr...
Friday at 7am - same as Tues/Thurs
Friday evening - more happy hr
Saturday - usually a pretty intense lifting day, followed by a swim
Sunday - bike 18-24 miles
I'm not big or buff by any means... I think I have a decent body... well, I've gotten compliments whenever I take my shirt off... but I have a small frame so I don't like that. I'm 6'0 and I only weigh 165lbs...
Well, the reason why I was incorporating swimming and doing 2-a-days when playing ball was because I was training for a triathlon... the thing is, it was a sprint triathlon so the distance for each leg is half of what the olympic distance triathlon is. So, my race was 300m swim/20k bike/5k run... about as short as it can be for a triathlon. Well, that was this past weekend and even though it's short, I popped my tri cherry!
I was pretty pissed off that my first transition time took so long... I had a tri top that had my bib # on and so I was trying to put that on... putting a tight top when wet is extremely difficult... and it literally took me like 2+ minutes trying to put it on, taking it off, trying again... Overall, I had a great time (not my actual time but the time I had at the race was fun) but I had way too much left in the tank at the end of the race so I was not too excited about my performance... but then again, it's my first one so I guess it's passable. I'll give it a B- for my personal grade.
I do know that I no longer have any desire to run a marathon (which at one point was on my life checklist). I will prob do a half actually... oh, for you bloggers who still read this and those of you that run (I'm pretty much talking to you and you), any interest in doing the Vegas half on 12/6? My buddy and I are doing it so you guys should join... isn't that around the winter gathering anyways?
So then this past Sunday, I did my tri... well, last night was our company league 3on3 tournament. Despite it being a company league, it's actually uber competitive and we have refs... if we can call them that... they are the same refs from the County league that I play in and they are freakin terrible. Well, in this double elimination tournament, despite losing our very first game, we actually won the next 4 games to make it to the Finals!! Of course, by then, we were totally gassed and considering we were playing against the #2 seed (we knocked off the #1 seed in the game before in OT) which was also last year's champion, and they played 2 less games than we did (because they were the #2 seed and they didn't have to go through the loser's bracket), they crushed us... during the seeding games last week, we lost to them 13-9 (it's a game to 20 by 1s and 2s or 20 minutes, whichever comes first)... last night, we got crushed in the Finals 20-4... No surprise. We were completely done after knocking off the #1 seed. Having said that, it was a total blast.
With all the workouts and my renewed social life, I've devoted a lot less time playing poker... but I'm ok with that for now.
Oh, at our company gym, there's also a list for anyone who can bench more than 120% of their weight and it is ranked by %. You have to bench the weight 3 times to qualify and so I did 220lbs 3 times, good enough to put me on the list at 132%. Of course, that puts me like 3 from the bottom but there are only about 15 guys on the list... so, my next goal is to move up that ranking. 235lbs would get me 142% which would put me on the upper half of the list so that should be my goal. Hopefully sometime in the next few months, I can get there...
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Nothing really
These days, I feel like I got so much going on that I really haven't had time to play poker... I think I'm averaging maybe 4-5 hrs per week... maybe a little more but really not that much more. As such, I'm struggling to come up with contents for this blog. Where has my time gone? Well, honestly, most of my time these days are spent working, vacationing/going out of town (I was in NY this past weekend), working out (my first triathlon is coming up in a month), etc... Very little poker and this kinda makes me sad because I want to play more... I just don't have the time.
But anyways, the main reason... errrr, the only reason I'm writing this post is to give props to LJ. Though we haven't talked in a while (since my company banned gchat), her text message in the middle of the night (LJ, midnight in Vegas = 3am EST) reminded me of WSOP and the fact that my nemesis as well as the only other blogger that I haven't met that I really would like to (wow, that was a long description of cmitch) are out there donking it up. Actually, that description of cmitch is not true. These two donks avoid blogger gatherings like the plague too.
But anyways, yeah, go give LJ some love since she just came in 10th in the WSOP Horse event. Fawkin aye. She was 9 people away from a god damn bracelet!!!! That woulda been so awesome but nonetheless, an awesome run. Maybe her new employment made her an even better poker player??? For those of you that don't know, she's director of marketing at CardRunners. So awesome. I love my company and my job but honestly, I'm wasting my life away. I'm in nowhereville VA and every time I go back to Tokyo or visit NY, I'm reminded of how much I miss the city life and how bored I am in suburbia. Don't get me wrong. Richmond is a very nice city... if you want a fuckin family. But for a single guy, it's boring as shit. I love my friends here and if I move, I will miss them a lot. But convenient, quiet, and good school district aren't exactly high on my priority list when those things come at the expense of entertainment. So, that's my long way of saying that I'm looking to get the fuck outta here. I might have an opportunity to move to NY within my company so worst case scenario, I'm moving to NY by Jan of 2010. Best case scenario? Finding something even before that and moving to Tokyo or NY. But either way, before I do anything, I know I have to go visit these two clowns as well.
GL to everyone in Vegas! And LJ, as I promised, I'll look up tickets for the weekend and if I find a decent flight, I'll go out there, even if it's just for the weekend. I mean it is the WSOP after all.
But anyways, the main reason... errrr, the only reason I'm writing this post is to give props to LJ. Though we haven't talked in a while (since my company banned gchat), her text message in the middle of the night (LJ, midnight in Vegas = 3am EST) reminded me of WSOP and the fact that my nemesis as well as the only other blogger that I haven't met that I really would like to (wow, that was a long description of cmitch) are out there donking it up. Actually, that description of cmitch is not true. These two donks avoid blogger gatherings like the plague too.
But anyways, yeah, go give LJ some love since she just came in 10th in the WSOP Horse event. Fawkin aye. She was 9 people away from a god damn bracelet!!!! That woulda been so awesome but nonetheless, an awesome run. Maybe her new employment made her an even better poker player??? For those of you that don't know, she's director of marketing at CardRunners. So awesome. I love my company and my job but honestly, I'm wasting my life away. I'm in nowhereville VA and every time I go back to Tokyo or visit NY, I'm reminded of how much I miss the city life and how bored I am in suburbia. Don't get me wrong. Richmond is a very nice city... if you want a fuckin family. But for a single guy, it's boring as shit. I love my friends here and if I move, I will miss them a lot. But convenient, quiet, and good school district aren't exactly high on my priority list when those things come at the expense of entertainment. So, that's my long way of saying that I'm looking to get the fuck outta here. I might have an opportunity to move to NY within my company so worst case scenario, I'm moving to NY by Jan of 2010. Best case scenario? Finding something even before that and moving to Tokyo or NY. But either way, before I do anything, I know I have to go visit these two clowns as well.
GL to everyone in Vegas! And LJ, as I promised, I'll look up tickets for the weekend and if I find a decent flight, I'll go out there, even if it's just for the weekend. I mean it is the WSOP after all.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
OMG a blog post!
It's funny how what you intend to do and what actually happens are totally different. 3 weeks ago, when I was leaving for Japan, my thought was "phew, I'll finally be able to take a much needed break, relax, and maybe play some poker." Naturally, I figured I'd catch up on reading other blogs as well as post a few times while I was there. Instead, my 14 day stay in Japan was a complete blur. Some nights, literally.
There are so many things that I can recap. But even for me, mr my-life-is-an-open-book, I don't want to disclose all... plus it would just be a needlessly long blog post. So, I guess I will just summarize a few points...
- in a totally random coincidence, my boss from my old job (who is also my mentor and a friend) was in Japan and we spent a day together showing him around
- it is possible to never leave an apartment on the 9th floor and lose pieces of clothing... and I don't mean in a good way...
- when I first got home, my two best friends from high school kept trying to convince me to move back... by the time I was leaving, they said "maybe it's good that you don't actually live here... if you did, I would probably get divorced and F will never find a job."
- My two best friends from high school are also the best wingmen in the world. M & F, you guys are the shit!
- I will never ever lie about my age and where I live anymore. I am a 33 yr old in Richmond, VA... hopefully, that will change soon.
- I ate raw liver. That's right, raw liver. Sounds nasty, I know. But it's soooo much better than cooked liver.
- I ate whale, obv raw. Best sashimi I ever had. Yeah, I know, I know, I'm generally anti whale hunting. But it was sooooooo good. So Greenpeace, you can eff off. tyvm.
There are so many things that I can recap. But even for me, mr my-life-is-an-open-book, I don't want to disclose all... plus it would just be a needlessly long blog post. So, I guess I will just summarize a few points...
- in a totally random coincidence, my boss from my old job (who is also my mentor and a friend) was in Japan and we spent a day together showing him around
- it is possible to never leave an apartment on the 9th floor and lose pieces of clothing... and I don't mean in a good way...
- when I first got home, my two best friends from high school kept trying to convince me to move back... by the time I was leaving, they said "maybe it's good that you don't actually live here... if you did, I would probably get divorced and F will never find a job."
- My two best friends from high school are also the best wingmen in the world. M & F, you guys are the shit!
- I will never ever lie about my age and where I live anymore. I am a 33 yr old in Richmond, VA... hopefully, that will change soon.
- I ate raw liver. That's right, raw liver. Sounds nasty, I know. But it's soooo much better than cooked liver.
- I ate whale, obv raw. Best sashimi I ever had. Yeah, I know, I know, I'm generally anti whale hunting. But it was sooooooo good. So Greenpeace, you can eff off. tyvm.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Finishing up the KK hand
Great comments everyone so thank you for that. Hell, Jordan even went as far to do a whole post on it. The reason why I posted this in the first place was because I really wasn't sure what the best course of action was and what I ended up doing resulted in me doing the "right" thing money wise but I was certain that whatever analysis I did at that point would be almost impossible for it to not be results oriented so I decided to pose the question here.
As you loyal readers know, I've pretty much abandoned strategy/poker thought posts and even though part of it could be blamed on me doing other things and not having as much time or the desire to put the effort into blogging, part of me was that I no longer wanted to share my thoughts and hole cards publicly where I don't even change my screenname (even if I did, you can still google recessrampage and you will come here, I think) so I just thought it would be -EV. However, there's a good chance I'm gonna kill my RecessRampage account so I figured I don't really care anymore. But that's for a different post.
On the KK hand, here's the recap.
Full Tilt Poker Game #12167653280: Table Stonewater - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:19:34 ET - 2009/05/11
Seat 1: The Jeltz ($207.15)
Seat 2: ZMAE ($137.25)
Seat 3: eddymoosh ($87.15)
Seat 4: pmow2131 ($358.15)
Seat 5: AAces Again ($159.65)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($200)
Seat 7: prettydevil1 ($200)
Seat 8: zoitkiller ($298.80)
Seat 9: bombkiller ($273.75)
The Jeltz posts the small blind of $1
ZMAE posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kc Kh]
eddymoosh calls $2
pmow2131 folds
AAces Again folds
RecessRampage raises to $9
prettydevil1 has 15 seconds left to act
prettydevil1 folds
zoitkiller calls $9
bombkiller calls $9
The Jeltz folds
ZMAE calls $7
eddymoosh calls $7
I'm not gonna lie, when the two guys behind me called, I was hoping one of the blinds would try to squeeze. Instead, I am in a nightmare situation with KK seeing a flop 5 handed.
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 9d]
ZMAE has 15 seconds left to act
ZMAE checks
eddymoosh checks
RecessRampage ???
And this is where I left off. The flop is freakin horrible for KK in a 5 handed pot. With so many callers, the board is more likely to have hit someone. The question is how strong? There was the UTG limper who then called my raise after 3 other callers (including the blind). So I eliminate AA or QQ from UTG because he would have to repop and as a shorty, actually, I felt that it was more likely that he didn't have a pair at all because it would just seem so standard for the shorty to shove in that spot hoping for a race. The question was the BB. He could really have anything so at this point, I wasn't interested in narrowing down his hand range. The CO and the button's range was tricky but I felt that the button would have tried to squeeze if he had a hand like AK or AQ so he probably also had a moderate strength hand.
In other words, a lot of the preflop action lead me to believe that everyone had a moderate strength hand so I was about to bet for approximately $35 like a lot of people advocated. The problem was, if I get called from either the CO or Button, there's really no card I would like to see other than KK. So I felt like I was setting myself off to get bluffed off what could be the best hand. On the same token, I couldn't shove over the top if someone were to raise me so in the end, I decided that if I bet out here, I would be turning what could still be my best hand into a bluff. Rather, I want to see what develops. My thought was that if either the CO or Button bets and the two players in front of me folds, I was gonna call and then lead out on the blank turn. I felt that against the CO/Button's range that would bet the flop, I have a better chance of being ahead. Again, this could be a wrong train of thought but that's what I was thinking (honesty HAS TO count for something, right?). And this is also one of those spots where I would rather have QQ instead of KK so that I would also have a inside straight draw...
So anyways, this is what I did...
RecessRampage checks
zoitkiller has 15 seconds left to act
zoitkiller bets $36
bombkiller folds
ZMAE folds
eddymoosh raises to $78.15, and is all in
RecessRampage folds
RecessRampage adds $9
zoitkiller calls $42.15
eddymoosh shows [Ts Qd]
zoitkiller shows [Jd Jh]
*** TURN *** [Jc 8s 9d] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 8s 9d 5c] [2c]
eddymoosh shows a straight, Queen high
zoitkiller shows three of a kind, Jacks
eddymoosh wins the pot ($199.30) with a straight, Queen high
I was shocked to see the top set from the CO. I couldn't believe that he didn't repop me pre. And again, as I mentioned above, if no one came over the top, I would have called and when the 5 came, I probably would have bet into the guy so I would have lost more money in that scenario but I felt that he could easily do this with JT, T9, AJ which are all realistic holdings. Of course, 88 and 99 came into my head but you really can't always be afraid of sets. And being that my line would be really weird (call flop OOP and then bet into the guy on the turn), I think a lot of worse hands will still call.
Again, I really don't know what the best line to take in this situation. I agree with the thoughts of cbetting but I'm also wondering if varying the amount would be an option. Maybe instead of betting $35-40, what about betting about half pot? Maybe like $25ish? Despite all the comments though, I really hate betting out here because my hand can't stand up to a raise and most hands that I even beat are gonna raise me, including the ones that I am losing to. In other words, all sets, flopped straights, two pair, JT, 9T, 8T will probably all raise me... Betting out just seems a little spewy, even if that's the right answer.
Anyone have a more compelling argument here?
As you loyal readers know, I've pretty much abandoned strategy/poker thought posts and even though part of it could be blamed on me doing other things and not having as much time or the desire to put the effort into blogging, part of me was that I no longer wanted to share my thoughts and hole cards publicly where I don't even change my screenname (even if I did, you can still google recessrampage and you will come here, I think) so I just thought it would be -EV. However, there's a good chance I'm gonna kill my RecessRampage account so I figured I don't really care anymore. But that's for a different post.
On the KK hand, here's the recap.
Full Tilt Poker Game #12167653280: Table Stonewater - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:19:34 ET - 2009/05/11
Seat 1: The Jeltz ($207.15)
Seat 2: ZMAE ($137.25)
Seat 3: eddymoosh ($87.15)
Seat 4: pmow2131 ($358.15)
Seat 5: AAces Again ($159.65)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($200)
Seat 7: prettydevil1 ($200)
Seat 8: zoitkiller ($298.80)
Seat 9: bombkiller ($273.75)
The Jeltz posts the small blind of $1
ZMAE posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kc Kh]
eddymoosh calls $2
pmow2131 folds
AAces Again folds
RecessRampage raises to $9
prettydevil1 has 15 seconds left to act
prettydevil1 folds
zoitkiller calls $9
bombkiller calls $9
The Jeltz folds
ZMAE calls $7
eddymoosh calls $7
I'm not gonna lie, when the two guys behind me called, I was hoping one of the blinds would try to squeeze. Instead, I am in a nightmare situation with KK seeing a flop 5 handed.
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 9d]
ZMAE has 15 seconds left to act
ZMAE checks
eddymoosh checks
RecessRampage ???
And this is where I left off. The flop is freakin horrible for KK in a 5 handed pot. With so many callers, the board is more likely to have hit someone. The question is how strong? There was the UTG limper who then called my raise after 3 other callers (including the blind). So I eliminate AA or QQ from UTG because he would have to repop and as a shorty, actually, I felt that it was more likely that he didn't have a pair at all because it would just seem so standard for the shorty to shove in that spot hoping for a race. The question was the BB. He could really have anything so at this point, I wasn't interested in narrowing down his hand range. The CO and the button's range was tricky but I felt that the button would have tried to squeeze if he had a hand like AK or AQ so he probably also had a moderate strength hand.
In other words, a lot of the preflop action lead me to believe that everyone had a moderate strength hand so I was about to bet for approximately $35 like a lot of people advocated. The problem was, if I get called from either the CO or Button, there's really no card I would like to see other than KK. So I felt like I was setting myself off to get bluffed off what could be the best hand. On the same token, I couldn't shove over the top if someone were to raise me so in the end, I decided that if I bet out here, I would be turning what could still be my best hand into a bluff. Rather, I want to see what develops. My thought was that if either the CO or Button bets and the two players in front of me folds, I was gonna call and then lead out on the blank turn. I felt that against the CO/Button's range that would bet the flop, I have a better chance of being ahead. Again, this could be a wrong train of thought but that's what I was thinking (honesty HAS TO count for something, right?). And this is also one of those spots where I would rather have QQ instead of KK so that I would also have a inside straight draw...
So anyways, this is what I did...
RecessRampage checks
zoitkiller has 15 seconds left to act
zoitkiller bets $36
bombkiller folds
ZMAE folds
eddymoosh raises to $78.15, and is all in
RecessRampage folds
RecessRampage adds $9
zoitkiller calls $42.15
eddymoosh shows [Ts Qd]
zoitkiller shows [Jd Jh]
*** TURN *** [Jc 8s 9d] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 8s 9d 5c] [2c]
eddymoosh shows a straight, Queen high
zoitkiller shows three of a kind, Jacks
eddymoosh wins the pot ($199.30) with a straight, Queen high
I was shocked to see the top set from the CO. I couldn't believe that he didn't repop me pre. And again, as I mentioned above, if no one came over the top, I would have called and when the 5 came, I probably would have bet into the guy so I would have lost more money in that scenario but I felt that he could easily do this with JT, T9, AJ which are all realistic holdings. Of course, 88 and 99 came into my head but you really can't always be afraid of sets. And being that my line would be really weird (call flop OOP and then bet into the guy on the turn), I think a lot of worse hands will still call.
Again, I really don't know what the best line to take in this situation. I agree with the thoughts of cbetting but I'm also wondering if varying the amount would be an option. Maybe instead of betting $35-40, what about betting about half pot? Maybe like $25ish? Despite all the comments though, I really hate betting out here because my hand can't stand up to a raise and most hands that I even beat are gonna raise me, including the ones that I am losing to. In other words, all sets, flopped straights, two pair, JT, 9T, 8T will probably all raise me... Betting out just seems a little spewy, even if that's the right answer.
Anyone have a more compelling argument here?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Yet another Question for the KK hand
Great responses so far so I thank you all for that. I think most of you mentioned to cbet about $30-35 and a lot of people went as far (I think) to say "to find out where you are at." I've decided that I actually hate betting for information. But that's neither here nor there. My question is this.
Is your C-bet a bluff or a value bet?
In other words, if you bet and a guy in position calls you, now what? Do you fire another bullet on a blank turn? What cards are you afraid of seeing on the turn? Or, the shorter list might be, what cards do you want to see on the turn?
The reason I ask that is that I'm trying to ask myself this question more and more before I bet. Am I betting for value or am I bluffing? For those of you that say that you're betting for value, what would you do with the hand if you get raised on the flop? If you say fold, then you're effectively bluffing. I mean you might as well have 25o and it wouldn't make a difference, would it (at least if you look at the flop situation in a vacuum)?
If you say you're betting for value but if you get raised, then you realize that even though you thought you're betting for value, it turns out you might not have a good enough hand to withstand a raise... I can buy that argument too. But do you think an AJ would raise here or just call you?
Honestly, I guess my biggest concern is having two people behind me right? In other words, I want to know your thoughts more on what to do on the turn then if you cbet and just get called. Do you check/call turn? Then what do you do on the river? Hope for check/check?
Great comments so far... hopefully this will continue. I'll def post the hand but I'll wait till tomorrow to give some of the stragglers some time to catch up on my blog.
One quick pimpage - I gave Brue some shit about his offer to coach but I'll say this... if you guys like my hand history stuff, you should def be reading Brack/Brue's blog. Their recap of High Stakes poker has been very solid and entertaining at the same time. The HHs could be a bit dry sometimes but I think there's a lot of gold there and the stakes that Brue plays is def not indicative of his skill level (he's more of a .05/.10 fishie swimming in the 1-2nl waters :) )
Is your C-bet a bluff or a value bet?
In other words, if you bet and a guy in position calls you, now what? Do you fire another bullet on a blank turn? What cards are you afraid of seeing on the turn? Or, the shorter list might be, what cards do you want to see on the turn?
The reason I ask that is that I'm trying to ask myself this question more and more before I bet. Am I betting for value or am I bluffing? For those of you that say that you're betting for value, what would you do with the hand if you get raised on the flop? If you say fold, then you're effectively bluffing. I mean you might as well have 25o and it wouldn't make a difference, would it (at least if you look at the flop situation in a vacuum)?
If you say you're betting for value but if you get raised, then you realize that even though you thought you're betting for value, it turns out you might not have a good enough hand to withstand a raise... I can buy that argument too. But do you think an AJ would raise here or just call you?
Honestly, I guess my biggest concern is having two people behind me right? In other words, I want to know your thoughts more on what to do on the turn then if you cbet and just get called. Do you check/call turn? Then what do you do on the river? Hope for check/check?
Great comments so far... hopefully this will continue. I'll def post the hand but I'll wait till tomorrow to give some of the stragglers some time to catch up on my blog.
One quick pimpage - I gave Brue some shit about his offer to coach but I'll say this... if you guys like my hand history stuff, you should def be reading Brack/Brue's blog. Their recap of High Stakes poker has been very solid and entertaining at the same time. The HHs could be a bit dry sometimes but I think there's a lot of gold there and the stakes that Brue plays is def not indicative of his skill level (he's more of a .05/.10 fishie swimming in the 1-2nl waters :) )
Monday, May 11, 2009
OMG A poker post!
I'm not really sure what compelled me to post this... But as I was feeling lazy, I opted to skip my workout last night and instead 6 table on FTP and ran into this situation which I thought was kinda interesting.
1-2NL 9 players, I'm in MP
Edit: Cmitch, thanks, I'm an idiot
Seat 1: The Jeltz ($207.15)
Seat 2: ZMAE ($137.25)
Seat 3: eddymoosh ($87.15)
Seat 4: pmow2131 ($358.15)
Seat 5: AAces Again ($159.65)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($200)
Seat 7: prettydevil1 ($200)
Seat 8: zoitkiller ($298.80)
Seat 9: bombkiller ($273.75)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kc Kh]
eddymoosh calls $2
pmow2131 folds
AAces Again folds
RecessRampage raises to $9
prettydevil1 has 15 seconds left to act
prettydevil1 folds
zoitkiller calls $9
bombkiller calls $9
The Jeltz folds
ZMAE calls $7
eddymoosh calls $7
So I get dealt Bayne's favorite hand and then I'm mortified to see 4 callers. Pretty sure seeing a flop with 5 people holding KK is a shitty situation. I mean how often do you go into a flop wishing to hit a set with KK (except Bayne)??
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 9d] Pot size $45
ZMAE has 15 seconds left to act
ZMAE checks
eddymoosh checks
RecessRampage ???
So, here's the question. What would you do? In order to prevent anyone from being result oriented, I will post the results later. Being that I haven't posted anything poker related in a while, I might not get much response... or it might take a while for people to catch on/see it but nonetheless, let me know what you think. Do you throw out a standard cbet? If so, how much? Do you check here to see what the others would do? Any reasoning to your answer would be very helpful too.
1-2NL 9 players, I'm in MP
Edit: Cmitch, thanks, I'm an idiot
Seat 1: The Jeltz ($207.15)
Seat 2: ZMAE ($137.25)
Seat 3: eddymoosh ($87.15)
Seat 4: pmow2131 ($358.15)
Seat 5: AAces Again ($159.65)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($200)
Seat 7: prettydevil1 ($200)
Seat 8: zoitkiller ($298.80)
Seat 9: bombkiller ($273.75)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kc Kh]
eddymoosh calls $2
pmow2131 folds
AAces Again folds
RecessRampage raises to $9
prettydevil1 has 15 seconds left to act
prettydevil1 folds
zoitkiller calls $9
bombkiller calls $9
The Jeltz folds
ZMAE calls $7
eddymoosh calls $7
So I get dealt Bayne's favorite hand and then I'm mortified to see 4 callers. Pretty sure seeing a flop with 5 people holding KK is a shitty situation. I mean how often do you go into a flop wishing to hit a set with KK (except Bayne)??
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 9d] Pot size $45
ZMAE has 15 seconds left to act
ZMAE checks
eddymoosh checks
RecessRampage ???
So, here's the question. What would you do? In order to prevent anyone from being result oriented, I will post the results later. Being that I haven't posted anything poker related in a while, I might not get much response... or it might take a while for people to catch on/see it but nonetheless, let me know what you think. Do you throw out a standard cbet? If so, how much? Do you check here to see what the others would do? Any reasoning to your answer would be very helpful too.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Results are in!
I'm clearly doing this wrong... but if you click on the little strip below, you can see my result.
Overall, I came in 43rd out of the 60 men competing in the 30-34 age group. My bike portion, which was clearly the slowest (hey, I've only had my bike for a few days) was 52/60... still shocking that I wasn't like last or second to last. 43 out of 60 puts me in the "slower half" but I can't help being very proud of myself.
I mean these are the guys I'm "competing" against... all so scary looking.
Richmond Times Dispatch also has a cool slide show of the Duathlon Nationals.
Overall, I came in 43rd out of the 60 men competing in the 30-34 age group. My bike portion, which was clearly the slowest (hey, I've only had my bike for a few days) was 52/60... still shocking that I wasn't like last or second to last. 43 out of 60 puts me in the "slower half" but I can't help being very proud of myself.
I mean these are the guys I'm "competing" against... all so scary looking.
Richmond Times Dispatch also has a cool slide show of the Duathlon Nationals.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Phew!
The night before the race, as I'm getting ready, I keep thinking to myself if only I had two more weeks, I would definitely be more ready and in better shape. And the other thought was why the hell is our start time at 10:50am and why the hell does this have to be the first weekend where the temperature hits the mid 90s (when so far we haven't sniffed the mid 80s until this weekend). Hell, when I worked out outside on Wednesday, just 4 days prior to the race, it was in the 40s... So, I did the only thing I can do at that point which was to focus on keeping myself hydrated.
On the day of the race, I get out and there are tons of people... all looking like they are in kick ass shape. Seriously, I haven't seen a collection of athletic looking people like that since track meets in my college days. As my friend cleverly put it, "it is the national championship of duathlon." Good point. Why did I sign up for the championship event instead of the shorter version??? I mean I know that is what I do but man... why oh why.
Well, all said and done, I was able to complete the race. It was insane tough though. I was literally running on empty from about 16 mile mark of the bike. A funny thing did happen early though... 1.6 miles into the race (10k run), we come to the train tracks... and there is a train crossing... literally, we were stopped for 6-8 minutes (depending on when you got there) and the race officials had to come out to issue the official ruling (keep in mind that top 4 from each age group qualifies for the world championship in Sept so some of them were very fired up about this). I think the official ruling was that they are going to take 8 minutes off the race chip time. Well, getting that out of the way, the race continued.
By the time the 10k portion was done, I was actually feeling fatigued. This is not like the Monument 10k race where there are thousands of runners, some slow, some fast. All these guys were fast... hell, so were the girls. Well, another thing I learned was that I'm slow on my bike. Which makes sense since I just bought my bike few days ago... But that's where everyone broke away from me for sure... I mean I was kinda behind after the run but I imagine that I had to be the slowest guy in my age group on the bike. Around mile 8 into the 24 mile bike portion, my calves were starting to cramp up. And again, by mile 16, I was running on empty. I was just doing everything I can to keep pedaling but it was also not a flat course and my quads were burning as well.
The last 5k run portion is actually kind of a blur... I know that I was glad I was off the bike... just different muscle group I guess and it helped... a little. I was so happy to finish though since that was my goal. I don't know my official time yet (not posted on the website yet) but that's secondary, at least for this race. I'll just have a baseline of what to shoot for next time. And yes, even though I felt like death, there will be a next time. I haven't been this proud of myself in a long long time!!!
Oh and once you complete the race, they give you a "finisher's mug" and of course, Richmond Tri Club has a party with pizza from Papa Johns, burritos from Chipotle, and beers (Miller Lite and Yuengling). One free beer for race participants - man, Yuengling out of the finisher's mug tasted especially good!!!
Some picture dump:
Start Line
Different angles of the transition area - where you transition from run to bike and then from bike to run:
My bike racked up at the transition station:
And me kissing my finisher's mug!!!!
On the day of the race, I get out and there are tons of people... all looking like they are in kick ass shape. Seriously, I haven't seen a collection of athletic looking people like that since track meets in my college days. As my friend cleverly put it, "it is the national championship of duathlon." Good point. Why did I sign up for the championship event instead of the shorter version??? I mean I know that is what I do but man... why oh why.
Well, all said and done, I was able to complete the race. It was insane tough though. I was literally running on empty from about 16 mile mark of the bike. A funny thing did happen early though... 1.6 miles into the race (10k run), we come to the train tracks... and there is a train crossing... literally, we were stopped for 6-8 minutes (depending on when you got there) and the race officials had to come out to issue the official ruling (keep in mind that top 4 from each age group qualifies for the world championship in Sept so some of them were very fired up about this). I think the official ruling was that they are going to take 8 minutes off the race chip time. Well, getting that out of the way, the race continued.
By the time the 10k portion was done, I was actually feeling fatigued. This is not like the Monument 10k race where there are thousands of runners, some slow, some fast. All these guys were fast... hell, so were the girls. Well, another thing I learned was that I'm slow on my bike. Which makes sense since I just bought my bike few days ago... But that's where everyone broke away from me for sure... I mean I was kinda behind after the run but I imagine that I had to be the slowest guy in my age group on the bike. Around mile 8 into the 24 mile bike portion, my calves were starting to cramp up. And again, by mile 16, I was running on empty. I was just doing everything I can to keep pedaling but it was also not a flat course and my quads were burning as well.
The last 5k run portion is actually kind of a blur... I know that I was glad I was off the bike... just different muscle group I guess and it helped... a little. I was so happy to finish though since that was my goal. I don't know my official time yet (not posted on the website yet) but that's secondary, at least for this race. I'll just have a baseline of what to shoot for next time. And yes, even though I felt like death, there will be a next time. I haven't been this proud of myself in a long long time!!!
Oh and once you complete the race, they give you a "finisher's mug" and of course, Richmond Tri Club has a party with pizza from Papa Johns, burritos from Chipotle, and beers (Miller Lite and Yuengling). One free beer for race participants - man, Yuengling out of the finisher's mug tasted especially good!!!
Some picture dump:
Start Line
Different angles of the transition area - where you transition from run to bike and then from bike to run:
My bike racked up at the transition station:
And me kissing my finisher's mug!!!!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Ok, now I'm FIRED UP!!!!
I went to pickup my registration packet downtown for my duathlon on Friday and up until then, I was pretty nonchalant about the duathlon. I mean yeah, I was getting prepared, moderately working out for it but I wasn't like super psyched about it. Now, don't get me wrong. Despite my prior post, I work out more than the average person. I just haven't done targeted workouts for endurance. So Tue, Thurs, and Fri mornings, I play basketball for like 1-1.5hrs and then usually, on Wed, Fri (yeah I essentially work out twice) and Sun, I lift weights. I do decent cardio on Wed and usually pretty heavy cardio on Sat and Mon. So yeah, I know I work out harder than your average person - I don't want to come across like I do awesome in races without working out because that is NOT the case.
Well, anyways, I get downtown and I find the registration area and like all the other big races I've entered, the set up makes it enough to get you fired up. First off, I got all my goodies that come with the registration fee...
I then spot the finish line which is also right by the "transition area" where I guess we will all be hanging our bikes during our runs. This is where I would love to be able to cross... I don't have a goal time right now and since it's my first, I guess I will focus on completing. But if I could come under 2:45, then I would be pretty happy about myself I think.
And ultimately, this is where I would hope to avoid...
Wish me luck!!
Well, anyways, I get downtown and I find the registration area and like all the other big races I've entered, the set up makes it enough to get you fired up. First off, I got all my goodies that come with the registration fee...
I then spot the finish line which is also right by the "transition area" where I guess we will all be hanging our bikes during our runs. This is where I would love to be able to cross... I don't have a goal time right now and since it's my first, I guess I will focus on completing. But if I could come under 2:45, then I would be pretty happy about myself I think.
And ultimately, this is where I would hope to avoid...
Wish me luck!!
My new ride
As I was getting ready for the duathlon, I have been contemplating what to do for the biking section. This is pretty typical me... I sign up for a duathlon without a serviceable bike for a race. Don't get me wrong. I have a bicycle. But it's one of those hybrid bikes... essentially, it's a mountain bike with road tires. And for those of you who are actually bike connoisseurs, it's got thick wheels, the gear change happens when you switch the knob on the handlebar or sometimes randomly. Nonetheless, I figured, well, I have a bike so whatever... and I wanted to try something different so that's kinda how I signed up for the duathlon... pretty much on a whim. I mean I've never ran more than 6.2 miles (this is still true - which could be a problem for me on Sunday) and I figured my next step would be to do a half marathon... but duathlon sounds more fun.
Leading up to the duathlon, I was fairly content with the idea of doing it with my bike. I mean sure, it's not as good as a road bike but it works. I worked out on the stationary bike quite a bit and then few weekends ago, I biked 18 miles on that bike and even though it was really hard, mainly because it was kinda cold and windy, I decided that it was still passable. Well, after talking to a guy at work about it, he mentioned to me that there was a guy selling his used road bike and he was telling me how much difference it makes. So, I tried it out and I felt like it was a little different but because I didn't know what I was looking for, I still didn't think much of it.
Well, this past weekend, I decided to at least go check out a few bikes. I spent about 3-4 hrs at the bike shop, trying out maybe 5 or 6 different bikes, some totally out of my price range... and then I realized something. These bikes do make a difference. It felt so much smoother and easier. After doing price comparisons, I realized that the used bike that a coworker was offering was not that great of a price... eventually, I ended up purchasing this bike (a Fuji Roubaix Pro '09 - yes, like cars, they have the year of the model):
It's a decent bike for an entry level biker and it set me back like $1400 ($1100 for the bike, bike rack, shoes, pedals, etc). Yes, I know... it sounds insane... but that's like the low end of bikes too. Who knew, that these bikes that YOU pedal, cost so much. On Wednesday, I bought this bike and promptly went on a 20 mile bike ride (I mean the race is this Sunday so I don't have much time - yes, I'm a last minute guy) and oh my god... it was so much easier to do the 20 mile ride than it was to do the 18 mile on my other bike. I mean so much easier. I am now glad that I bought this bike because it will definitely help me on race day. And believe me, considering that so far, I have yet to run more than 6.2 miles, I have yet to bike more than 20 miles, and yet, the races is 6.2 mile run, 24 mile bike, AND 3.1 mile run, I will need every help I can get... but then again, I never do the entire distance of the race when I train (most I ran leading up to the 10k was 4.5 miles and that was only once) so we'll just see how I do. Who knows, on Sunday afternoon, I might be writing about how I couldn't finish the race (first two segments have to be completed within 2.5 hrs or they won't allow you to do the third segment)... it's supposed to be 90+ degrees on Sunday. Fuckin shit.
Maybe I shoulda spent longer than 3 weeks training for it... The joke amongst the guys I play ball with in the mornings was that by the time I signed up for the duathlon, I should be starting to ease off the training so I can peak at the right time. Since I signed up like 4-5 weeks ago and I think 4 weeks ago was the 10k race, yeah, I probably shoulda been better prepared but oh well. We shall see.
Leading up to the duathlon, I was fairly content with the idea of doing it with my bike. I mean sure, it's not as good as a road bike but it works. I worked out on the stationary bike quite a bit and then few weekends ago, I biked 18 miles on that bike and even though it was really hard, mainly because it was kinda cold and windy, I decided that it was still passable. Well, after talking to a guy at work about it, he mentioned to me that there was a guy selling his used road bike and he was telling me how much difference it makes. So, I tried it out and I felt like it was a little different but because I didn't know what I was looking for, I still didn't think much of it.
Well, this past weekend, I decided to at least go check out a few bikes. I spent about 3-4 hrs at the bike shop, trying out maybe 5 or 6 different bikes, some totally out of my price range... and then I realized something. These bikes do make a difference. It felt so much smoother and easier. After doing price comparisons, I realized that the used bike that a coworker was offering was not that great of a price... eventually, I ended up purchasing this bike (a Fuji Roubaix Pro '09 - yes, like cars, they have the year of the model):
It's a decent bike for an entry level biker and it set me back like $1400 ($1100 for the bike, bike rack, shoes, pedals, etc). Yes, I know... it sounds insane... but that's like the low end of bikes too. Who knew, that these bikes that YOU pedal, cost so much. On Wednesday, I bought this bike and promptly went on a 20 mile bike ride (I mean the race is this Sunday so I don't have much time - yes, I'm a last minute guy) and oh my god... it was so much easier to do the 20 mile ride than it was to do the 18 mile on my other bike. I mean so much easier. I am now glad that I bought this bike because it will definitely help me on race day. And believe me, considering that so far, I have yet to run more than 6.2 miles, I have yet to bike more than 20 miles, and yet, the races is 6.2 mile run, 24 mile bike, AND 3.1 mile run, I will need every help I can get... but then again, I never do the entire distance of the race when I train (most I ran leading up to the 10k was 4.5 miles and that was only once) so we'll just see how I do. Who knows, on Sunday afternoon, I might be writing about how I couldn't finish the race (first two segments have to be completed within 2.5 hrs or they won't allow you to do the third segment)... it's supposed to be 90+ degrees on Sunday. Fuckin shit.
Maybe I shoulda spent longer than 3 weeks training for it... The joke amongst the guys I play ball with in the mornings was that by the time I signed up for the duathlon, I should be starting to ease off the training so I can peak at the right time. Since I signed up like 4-5 weeks ago and I think 4 weeks ago was the 10k race, yeah, I probably shoulda been better prepared but oh well. We shall see.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Phew
I can breathe again... this could be more of a twitter type entry... With earnings call right around the corner, I am "on call" this weekend. However, I am gonna go out tonight to blow off some steam after working pretty sick hours recently. I have a few things I want to blog about (some even poker related!!! shocking, I know) but for now, I just got home from work and just popped open my first cold one. Man, it tastes good. Most likely hitting the clubs tonight... don't wanna get too drunk since I got a pretty heavy workout planned tomorrow (assuming I don't get called in to work) since my duathlon is coming up next weekend. Wait, did I even mention here that I signed up for one? Yes, me, the guy who never ran more than 6.2 miles at once in my life is attempting a duathlon (6.2m run, 26m bike ride, and 3.1m run)... and those are miles, not meters (for anyone in foreign countries who follow the metric system). I'm gonna be dead after the race for sure but it should be fun. We'll see how well I do. Alright, back to relaxing, at least for the evening. I'm out!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Foot fetish anyone?
I do apologize for the delay in posting this. It was totally unintended and I really wasn't trying to build any anticipation. With quarter end, work is super busy and I just never got the time to post.
The closest answer was jjok... with the hammer toes. It certainly reminded me of this...
Well, the actual answer was that she had effed up toenails. Yes, I know I know... that sounds so stupid. But really... she was telling me how she hurt her foot and so she took her socks off and showed the section that hurt. No bruise or anything so the conversation had more to do with she didn't know how she hurt it. Meanwhile, I'm looking at her toe nails and thinking "OH MY GOD. Those are the biggest, weirdest shaped toe nails ever." I mean seriously, her nail on her big toe was like the size of her toe itself... and weirdly shaped. I really wish I could have taken a picture so I can post it here because I really don't know how else to describe it.
So anyways, one thing leads to another, we're making out but I can't get the picture of the toenail out of my head. And it's not like one of those "wouldn't it just grow out?" kinda thing. It's just... weird. The exposed area of her toenail is like almost round... I don't know man, it just kinda freaked/grossed me out.
I'm not a foot guy or anything... (not that there's anything wrong with that either if you're into that kinda stuff) But I guess I should clarify. I'm not a foot guy in the sense that a) I don't really check out feet and b) having beautiful feet doesn't turn me on. However, apparently, ugly feet turns me off. Honestly, I still can't get that out of my mind.
I am shocked though that no one guessed effed up nails.
Nonetheless, the comment section was gold. And yeah, most of the stuff listed in the comment section would also be bad... but effed up teeth? I wouldn't even go out with her in the first place... For me to go out with the girl a few times, it had to be something not immediately noticeable. How common is an outie btw? That would def gross me out too. Man, I'm so superficial.
The closest answer was jjok... with the hammer toes. It certainly reminded me of this...
Well, the actual answer was that she had effed up toenails. Yes, I know I know... that sounds so stupid. But really... she was telling me how she hurt her foot and so she took her socks off and showed the section that hurt. No bruise or anything so the conversation had more to do with she didn't know how she hurt it. Meanwhile, I'm looking at her toe nails and thinking "OH MY GOD. Those are the biggest, weirdest shaped toe nails ever." I mean seriously, her nail on her big toe was like the size of her toe itself... and weirdly shaped. I really wish I could have taken a picture so I can post it here because I really don't know how else to describe it.
So anyways, one thing leads to another, we're making out but I can't get the picture of the toenail out of my head. And it's not like one of those "wouldn't it just grow out?" kinda thing. It's just... weird. The exposed area of her toenail is like almost round... I don't know man, it just kinda freaked/grossed me out.
I'm not a foot guy or anything... (not that there's anything wrong with that either if you're into that kinda stuff) But I guess I should clarify. I'm not a foot guy in the sense that a) I don't really check out feet and b) having beautiful feet doesn't turn me on. However, apparently, ugly feet turns me off. Honestly, I still can't get that out of my mind.
I am shocked though that no one guessed effed up nails.
Nonetheless, the comment section was gold. And yeah, most of the stuff listed in the comment section would also be bad... but effed up teeth? I wouldn't even go out with her in the first place... For me to go out with the girl a few times, it had to be something not immediately noticeable. How common is an outie btw? That would def gross me out too. Man, I'm so superficial.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Another year older, none the wiser
Note: if you are too lazy to read through the whole thing, at least read the last paragraph. Little contest at the end.
First of all, thanks to all those on Facebook/emails/posts/etc who wished me Happy Birthday. I do have a birthday rant that I can go into but I can do that at another time so I will just share what can only be described as an "interesting" event.
My whole day went like the normal/typical day here. Played basketball in the morning, worked all day, yadda yadda. Well, during the course of the day, one of my friends who was determined to take me out for my birthday suggested that we go watch the new movie: Fast and Furious. She knew I was a big fan of the previous 3 (Fast and Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, FF: Tokyo Drift) and since I did make a comment that I wanted to go see the latest, it made sense. Plus, it's a Tuesday night so we figured there wouldn't be too many people at the movie theatre. Other people are generally the reason I don't go to movie theatres often so it made sense...
So, all was decided over email and so even though I had enough work to keep me here late, I ended my work day around 6:30pm to get home in time to change/eat before the movie at 8pm.
As I am driving home, I am entering my neighborhood and as I am approaching my driveway, I notice that there's a car parked. I can't think of whose car it is but it looks vaguely familiar. And then right when I get a little closer, I realize who it is... and when I realized it, that "oh shit" feeling entered my mind... you know that feeling when you are busted for doing something wrong? Well, that kinda feeling... except I didn't do anything wrong... but it still felt that way... why?
Let's rewind the timeline....
Few weeks ago, I met this girl at the evil empire of coffee shops. We talked, kinda hit it off, she gave me her number, blah blah blah. We hung out a few times, she seemed pretty nice, pretty cute, and definitely on to me. On my end however, not so much. I mean she's cute - italian, petite, pretty features, etc... but that's about it. Nothing that really wowed me I guess. But anyways, so we hung out a few times and then this past weekend, she just kinda got on my nerve. We're definitely not dating or anything and yet this weekend, she apparently really wanted to see me. So she texted me a few times, emailed me, etc. I kinda blew her off and then I responded to her on like a Saturday, telling her I had to work all weekend. (I did have to work - the "all weekend" part was a lie). Sunday was another beautiful day here so I went to the gym, worked out, did my chores, did some work, etc etc. Then, Sunday night, I get this email from her... ah hell, fuck privacy. I'll just copy and paste it here.
"I hope your day went well today, and that you were able to spend some time outdoors this weekend despite how busy you have been.
I don't know what to say, except that I am really confused. I've wanted to get to know you better...Mr. Cranky Pants and all! :), but it doesn't seem you desire the same. If that's the case, it's fine...err...ummmm...I mean, I'll understand. And it's not bc you have been so busy, rather I admire your passions and work ethic. It's bc... I feel kinda trivial to you, especially today.
I so much hope this is just a misunderstanding"
Ok, let's analyze this for a second (I'm pretty sure I just lost whatever female readership I had). First of all, she's feeling trivial to me???? Um, hello? We're not even dating. We just saw each other like 3-4 times. If this ain't a sign for being needy, I don't know what is. And I did needy girl long time ago and fuckin hated it. So I sure as hell ain't going back to that. Second, for all you ladies out there who think "oh, he's just really busy but he'll call back later." Um yeah. Let me tell you something. He's just not that into you. Period.
- Back to where I left off earlier....
So, I realize that the car parked in my driveway is none other than this girl... Now, after my previous paragraph, I do feel a little guilty because she was dropping off her home made chocolate chip cookies (cuz she knows I like chocolate chip) at my house... I so wish I was few minutes late in going home... Anyways, I come up with a lame excuse like "hey, sorry, I'd say we can hang out but the only reason I'm home so early (cuz I indicated to her that I'm working like 15 hr days) is because my friends are taking me out to dinner for my birthday (not a total lie - my friend and I had plans to eat pizza before the movie) and that I'm meeting them at 7pm. She understood, told me she assumed as much, and that she was kinda embarassed because she just wanted to drop off the cookies and leave them by the door. So I thanked her and walked into the house.
That was it in terms of the "interesting" event that I prefaced. My friend and I went to see Fast and Furious as planned and it was freakin awesome!!!! I love that entire series and if you liked the other F&F series, you'll definitely like this one too. And btw, movie on a Tuesday night is the way to go. No one at the movie theatre despite it being spring break week for the kids and there are coupons for like a $1 popcorn... can't beat that.
I will leave you with one thing... I did kinda like this girl and like I said, I did think she was cute... until one day, when we were messing around, there was one thing that I saw/noticed that completely turned me off. I am pretty certain that you won't guess what it was and no, you haters, it's not because she's not a he. But I'll leave you with this. What is it that I saw/noticed that completely turned me off about her?
I'll ship $5 on Fulltilt to the first person who guesses correctly. (if you don't have a fulltilt acct, well, guess anyways, it'd be fun)
PS: I brought the cookie into work... I had some already and they are pretty freakin awesome.
First of all, thanks to all those on Facebook/emails/posts/etc who wished me Happy Birthday. I do have a birthday rant that I can go into but I can do that at another time so I will just share what can only be described as an "interesting" event.
My whole day went like the normal/typical day here. Played basketball in the morning, worked all day, yadda yadda. Well, during the course of the day, one of my friends who was determined to take me out for my birthday suggested that we go watch the new movie: Fast and Furious. She knew I was a big fan of the previous 3 (Fast and Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, FF: Tokyo Drift) and since I did make a comment that I wanted to go see the latest, it made sense. Plus, it's a Tuesday night so we figured there wouldn't be too many people at the movie theatre. Other people are generally the reason I don't go to movie theatres often so it made sense...
So, all was decided over email and so even though I had enough work to keep me here late, I ended my work day around 6:30pm to get home in time to change/eat before the movie at 8pm.
As I am driving home, I am entering my neighborhood and as I am approaching my driveway, I notice that there's a car parked. I can't think of whose car it is but it looks vaguely familiar. And then right when I get a little closer, I realize who it is... and when I realized it, that "oh shit" feeling entered my mind... you know that feeling when you are busted for doing something wrong? Well, that kinda feeling... except I didn't do anything wrong... but it still felt that way... why?
Let's rewind the timeline....
Few weeks ago, I met this girl at the evil empire of coffee shops. We talked, kinda hit it off, she gave me her number, blah blah blah. We hung out a few times, she seemed pretty nice, pretty cute, and definitely on to me. On my end however, not so much. I mean she's cute - italian, petite, pretty features, etc... but that's about it. Nothing that really wowed me I guess. But anyways, so we hung out a few times and then this past weekend, she just kinda got on my nerve. We're definitely not dating or anything and yet this weekend, she apparently really wanted to see me. So she texted me a few times, emailed me, etc. I kinda blew her off and then I responded to her on like a Saturday, telling her I had to work all weekend. (I did have to work - the "all weekend" part was a lie). Sunday was another beautiful day here so I went to the gym, worked out, did my chores, did some work, etc etc. Then, Sunday night, I get this email from her... ah hell, fuck privacy. I'll just copy and paste it here.
"I hope your day went well today, and that you were able to spend some time outdoors this weekend despite how busy you have been.
I don't know what to say, except that I am really confused. I've wanted to get to know you better...Mr. Cranky Pants and all! :), but it doesn't seem you desire the same. If that's the case, it's fine...err...ummmm...I mean, I'll understand. And it's not bc you have been so busy, rather I admire your passions and work ethic. It's bc... I feel kinda trivial to you, especially today.
I so much hope this is just a misunderstanding"
Ok, let's analyze this for a second (I'm pretty sure I just lost whatever female readership I had). First of all, she's feeling trivial to me???? Um, hello? We're not even dating. We just saw each other like 3-4 times. If this ain't a sign for being needy, I don't know what is. And I did needy girl long time ago and fuckin hated it. So I sure as hell ain't going back to that. Second, for all you ladies out there who think "oh, he's just really busy but he'll call back later." Um yeah. Let me tell you something. He's just not that into you. Period.
- Back to where I left off earlier....
So, I realize that the car parked in my driveway is none other than this girl... Now, after my previous paragraph, I do feel a little guilty because she was dropping off her home made chocolate chip cookies (cuz she knows I like chocolate chip) at my house... I so wish I was few minutes late in going home... Anyways, I come up with a lame excuse like "hey, sorry, I'd say we can hang out but the only reason I'm home so early (cuz I indicated to her that I'm working like 15 hr days) is because my friends are taking me out to dinner for my birthday (not a total lie - my friend and I had plans to eat pizza before the movie) and that I'm meeting them at 7pm. She understood, told me she assumed as much, and that she was kinda embarassed because she just wanted to drop off the cookies and leave them by the door. So I thanked her and walked into the house.
That was it in terms of the "interesting" event that I prefaced. My friend and I went to see Fast and Furious as planned and it was freakin awesome!!!! I love that entire series and if you liked the other F&F series, you'll definitely like this one too. And btw, movie on a Tuesday night is the way to go. No one at the movie theatre despite it being spring break week for the kids and there are coupons for like a $1 popcorn... can't beat that.
I will leave you with one thing... I did kinda like this girl and like I said, I did think she was cute... until one day, when we were messing around, there was one thing that I saw/noticed that completely turned me off. I am pretty certain that you won't guess what it was and no, you haters, it's not because she's not a he. But I'll leave you with this. What is it that I saw/noticed that completely turned me off about her?
I'll ship $5 on Fulltilt to the first person who guesses correctly. (if you don't have a fulltilt acct, well, guess anyways, it'd be fun)
PS: I brought the cookie into work... I had some already and they are pretty freakin awesome.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Opinion/Thoughts wanted (nonpoker)
Currently, in my FTP account, I have over 300K in points.. and in looking at the Fulltilt store, I was thinking about getting this:
I've checked out sites like cnet and pcworld and the ratings/reviews are nothing but stellar. If I were to purchase this, retail cost is approx $1,200. Considering what else is in the fulltilt store, it seems like the best value. Currently, I play poker on my apple macbook which is fine but if you know what the macbook looks like, the screen is tiny and playing 6 tables will be pushing it... So, even though I love my mac, for poker and other PC related apps that I use, I was thinking about getting a cheap computer.
Like this one. Top rated value desktop by PC World, doesn't have all the latest bells and whistles but the specs are more than enough to play a lot of the video games (maybe not the super graphics intensive but I don't play those - I'm more the Civ/Age of Empires type of game guy) I like to play, clearly enough for poker apps... $699 for the system (excludes monitor) is not a bad price to pay for a computer with this kinda horsepower.
Also, I've been thinking that it's better to buy a $700 computer every 2-3 years as opposed to buying a $1500-2000 system every 4-5 years (where undoubtedly, by year 3, you are starting to have new computer envy).
So, I would love to hear all your thoughts about the system or the monitor.
I've checked out sites like cnet and pcworld and the ratings/reviews are nothing but stellar. If I were to purchase this, retail cost is approx $1,200. Considering what else is in the fulltilt store, it seems like the best value. Currently, I play poker on my apple macbook which is fine but if you know what the macbook looks like, the screen is tiny and playing 6 tables will be pushing it... So, even though I love my mac, for poker and other PC related apps that I use, I was thinking about getting a cheap computer.
Like this one. Top rated value desktop by PC World, doesn't have all the latest bells and whistles but the specs are more than enough to play a lot of the video games (maybe not the super graphics intensive but I don't play those - I'm more the Civ/Age of Empires type of game guy) I like to play, clearly enough for poker apps... $699 for the system (excludes monitor) is not a bad price to pay for a computer with this kinda horsepower.
Also, I've been thinking that it's better to buy a $700 computer every 2-3 years as opposed to buying a $1500-2000 system every 4-5 years (where undoubtedly, by year 3, you are starting to have new computer envy).
So, I would love to hear all your thoughts about the system or the monitor.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
It's definite! Online > B&M (Vegas trip report)
Last time I wrote my post before I was rudely interrupted by the 10k race, I was writing from the airport all excited about my upgrade to first class. Well, let me tell you something. I don't know how much it is to upgrade to first class but for the trip to Vegas, I would say it's totally worth it (unless you can figure out how to smuggle enough alcohol through the security gate with the liquid restriction they now have). From Cleveland to Vegas, I was sitting first class and at first, when I took my seat, I was a tad annoyed... sitting next to me was a dude with his family in the other two seats across the aisle and they have clearly never been in first class. This dude was yelling to his other buddies few rows up (they were all in 1st class - clearly just upgraded like me) about how great it was... Fuckin noobies...
So here I am, sitting in this comfortable seat on the plane and in bit of a tilt... but then the flight attendant comes, I order a Miller Lite thinking I'll just enjoy a few cold ones for a warm up, put my noise cancelling headsets on and just ignore these clowns around me. Well, when our beer comes (the guy also ordered ML), he goes "well, cheers to Vegas!" Well, how can I not cheer to that. I smile, say cheers out of courtesy, and I take a good swig. Mmmmm, nothing like free beer on a plane. This got us to talking and next thing we knew, we were ordering more beers and I gotta admit, this guy wasn't so bad after all. He was willing to pound drinks and then the cold platter thing came with cheese and meat and so I downed a few glasses of wine, polishing off all the wine they had (they only had 2 bottles and there were 12 of us in first class - I had 3 or 4 glasses tho) and then we kicked the ML so we had to switch to Heineken. After all was said and done, I was pretty buzzed and definitely ready to get the night started in Vegas. Sure enough, it was almost landing time. Great way to kill time on a plane. I never even pulled out my PSP (which I only play on flights - and considering I fly to Japan at least once a year, I fuckin need it).
I meet up with my friends the first night and besides a short craps session (a profitable one, might I add), I decide to hit up bars to continue on with my drinking. No more gambling was done that night, which is definitely a rarity for me. I got to bed around 4am PST and having been awake for over 24hrs (I woke up at 6am EST that morning to play bball in the morning), I was ok with calling it a night.
Over the course of the next two days, I played a good chunk of poker and a good amount of craps. My buddy was on fire all weekend and he basically made the craps table his personal ATM machine. Oh, and in an attempt to dust off my "iceman" image, I roll a 4 point fire bet... I even set the 5th point but couldn't hit... I had $3 on the firebet so the 5th point woulda been huge (4pts pay 25 for 1, 5 pts pay 250 for 1, and all 6 pts pay 2000 for 1).
But instead of going into a detailed trip report, I just want to share something I discovered for myself. CK does a much better job recapping live poker experiences anyways so there's really no point in me telling similar stories about calling station tourists and some ridiculously passive/nitty table filled with college kids with no money out during spring break for the March Madness.
People always talk about the appeal of live poker... the social interaction, blah blah blah. I really don't know what else. Social interaction I guess makes up for a lot. For me, it just adds to the annoyance. Brue mentioned this before in his blog that I reluctantly pimp... But live play sucks. First of all, you see a lot less hands per hr... I mean online, you might see anywhere from 50-60 hands per hour... and that's only if you're playing one table. Live, you might see 20-30 per hour. Online, some of you earn rakeback, I just enjoy the very meager benefits that come with earning points but nonetheless, you get something in return... sure, you can earn comp points or $ or whatever in a casino but the accumulation has got to be much slower than online. The rake on FTP is capped at $3 (I think 5% of pot, capped at $3). In most casinos, I think it's $4... this, I could be wrong, and not sure. Then there's also the tipping factor of tipping the dealer which costs another $1 per hand (if it's a big hand, maybe even more). All of this really amounts to me preferring the online world.
Well, and then there's the social aspect of poker you can only get live... Man, I don't know what people enjoy but putting up with other people's banter just makes me wanna shoot myself. I don't want to hear other people's bad beat stories, I don't want to hear their "analysis" on their hands (which are never good ones), and honestly, I don't give a shit where you're from or what you do. If I wanted to socialize, I'll hang out with my friends. If I wanted to network, there are plenty of networking social events that I can attend that will be beneficial for me professionally. So when I play poker, I just wanna play cards and make money. I am not interested in getting to know people. And I realized this during one of the sessions in Vegas when one side of the table was discussing airline bad beat stories (my bag didn't get here, my flight was delayed, we had to wait on the runway for x hrs, etc etc - AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!) and the other side of the table was discussing strategy ("well, I limped from UTG+1 with K8s and this guy raises but I have to call because if I hit, I can win a big pot. Flop comes 8 high, turn brings a flush draw, but I miss completely and I lose most of my stack cuz this guy has AA! I'm just so unlucky!").
At least online, it's only in the chat box, you can mute whomever you want, or you can just not read what's there. You don't have to deal with some stupid ass boring story or engage in small talk. Now I know some of you enjoy this and that's great. But I just know that this trip finally, definitively made me realize that I prefer online poker to live poker any day of the week. Sure, live players are so much worse but man, the amount of time I would have to invest in it really isn't worth it. Great for vacation, maybe... Of course, a profitable trip made this all less tiltworthy but nonetheless, I am clearly an online donk.
Now I'm gonna go be unsocial again.
So here I am, sitting in this comfortable seat on the plane and in bit of a tilt... but then the flight attendant comes, I order a Miller Lite thinking I'll just enjoy a few cold ones for a warm up, put my noise cancelling headsets on and just ignore these clowns around me. Well, when our beer comes (the guy also ordered ML), he goes "well, cheers to Vegas!" Well, how can I not cheer to that. I smile, say cheers out of courtesy, and I take a good swig. Mmmmm, nothing like free beer on a plane. This got us to talking and next thing we knew, we were ordering more beers and I gotta admit, this guy wasn't so bad after all. He was willing to pound drinks and then the cold platter thing came with cheese and meat and so I downed a few glasses of wine, polishing off all the wine they had (they only had 2 bottles and there were 12 of us in first class - I had 3 or 4 glasses tho) and then we kicked the ML so we had to switch to Heineken. After all was said and done, I was pretty buzzed and definitely ready to get the night started in Vegas. Sure enough, it was almost landing time. Great way to kill time on a plane. I never even pulled out my PSP (which I only play on flights - and considering I fly to Japan at least once a year, I fuckin need it).
I meet up with my friends the first night and besides a short craps session (a profitable one, might I add), I decide to hit up bars to continue on with my drinking. No more gambling was done that night, which is definitely a rarity for me. I got to bed around 4am PST and having been awake for over 24hrs (I woke up at 6am EST that morning to play bball in the morning), I was ok with calling it a night.
Over the course of the next two days, I played a good chunk of poker and a good amount of craps. My buddy was on fire all weekend and he basically made the craps table his personal ATM machine. Oh, and in an attempt to dust off my "iceman" image, I roll a 4 point fire bet... I even set the 5th point but couldn't hit... I had $3 on the firebet so the 5th point woulda been huge (4pts pay 25 for 1, 5 pts pay 250 for 1, and all 6 pts pay 2000 for 1).
But instead of going into a detailed trip report, I just want to share something I discovered for myself. CK does a much better job recapping live poker experiences anyways so there's really no point in me telling similar stories about calling station tourists and some ridiculously passive/nitty table filled with college kids with no money out during spring break for the March Madness.
People always talk about the appeal of live poker... the social interaction, blah blah blah. I really don't know what else. Social interaction I guess makes up for a lot. For me, it just adds to the annoyance. Brue mentioned this before in his blog that I reluctantly pimp... But live play sucks. First of all, you see a lot less hands per hr... I mean online, you might see anywhere from 50-60 hands per hour... and that's only if you're playing one table. Live, you might see 20-30 per hour. Online, some of you earn rakeback, I just enjoy the very meager benefits that come with earning points but nonetheless, you get something in return... sure, you can earn comp points or $ or whatever in a casino but the accumulation has got to be much slower than online. The rake on FTP is capped at $3 (I think 5% of pot, capped at $3). In most casinos, I think it's $4... this, I could be wrong, and not sure. Then there's also the tipping factor of tipping the dealer which costs another $1 per hand (if it's a big hand, maybe even more). All of this really amounts to me preferring the online world.
Well, and then there's the social aspect of poker you can only get live... Man, I don't know what people enjoy but putting up with other people's banter just makes me wanna shoot myself. I don't want to hear other people's bad beat stories, I don't want to hear their "analysis" on their hands (which are never good ones), and honestly, I don't give a shit where you're from or what you do. If I wanted to socialize, I'll hang out with my friends. If I wanted to network, there are plenty of networking social events that I can attend that will be beneficial for me professionally. So when I play poker, I just wanna play cards and make money. I am not interested in getting to know people. And I realized this during one of the sessions in Vegas when one side of the table was discussing airline bad beat stories (my bag didn't get here, my flight was delayed, we had to wait on the runway for x hrs, etc etc - AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!) and the other side of the table was discussing strategy ("well, I limped from UTG+1 with K8s and this guy raises but I have to call because if I hit, I can win a big pot. Flop comes 8 high, turn brings a flush draw, but I miss completely and I lose most of my stack cuz this guy has AA! I'm just so unlucky!").
At least online, it's only in the chat box, you can mute whomever you want, or you can just not read what's there. You don't have to deal with some stupid ass boring story or engage in small talk. Now I know some of you enjoy this and that's great. But I just know that this trip finally, definitively made me realize that I prefer online poker to live poker any day of the week. Sure, live players are so much worse but man, the amount of time I would have to invest in it really isn't worth it. Great for vacation, maybe... Of course, a profitable trip made this all less tiltworthy but nonetheless, I am clearly an online donk.
Now I'm gonna go be unsocial again.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Woot 10k!
No, I didn't win 10k playing poker... but yesterday was the annual Monument 10k in Richmond, VA. This 10k is the 4th or 5th largest 10k in the country with 32,000+ participants in this year's race. I'm not totally into running or anything but this 10k event is awesome. We run down the historic Monument Ave for 3.1 miles and then loop back around... almost every other block, there's a band set up, tons of people come out to cheer for their friends and family, and there are tons of people who are rooting (or heckling) from the balcony of the houses lining up this road.
Few months ago, when the registration for this race started, my friends and I decided to all run this and also have individual goals. I figured this would be a good thing because a) I'm competitive and b) our friends are such that we would keep giving each other a hard time to make sure we work hard for this race... well, it turns out, I am too lazy to actually work out for the race so, even though I knew I was in pretty decent shape with all the basketball I play and the cardio/lifting I've been doing, I wasn't sure what kind of running shape I was in. I mean the last time I ran 6.2 miles was... 2 years ago at the Monument 10k...
So, it was to my surprise when I saw that I actually got a PR... Of course, for all you runners that read this, it's not gonna be that great. But PR is a PR and for any of you in any of the races, you know how great that is.
I didn't have a watch on me or anything so I didn't really know what my official time was. When the results were posted, I was psyched. As you can see below, my time was 46:34. Not too shabby!!!
Few months ago, when the registration for this race started, my friends and I decided to all run this and also have individual goals. I figured this would be a good thing because a) I'm competitive and b) our friends are such that we would keep giving each other a hard time to make sure we work hard for this race... well, it turns out, I am too lazy to actually work out for the race so, even though I knew I was in pretty decent shape with all the basketball I play and the cardio/lifting I've been doing, I wasn't sure what kind of running shape I was in. I mean the last time I ran 6.2 miles was... 2 years ago at the Monument 10k...
So, it was to my surprise when I saw that I actually got a PR... Of course, for all you runners that read this, it's not gonna be that great. But PR is a PR and for any of you in any of the races, you know how great that is.
I didn't have a watch on me or anything so I didn't really know what my official time was. When the results were posted, I was psyched. As you can see below, my time was 46:34. Not too shabby!!!
Friday, March 20, 2009
I run goot!!!!!
Oh my god... You know my trip to Vegas is off to a good start when I get bumped off my original flight which was supposed to depart at 5:50 to Newark, NJ where I would then hop on to the plane to Vegas, arriving there at midnight. I mean to be able to avoid Jersey is a win, IMO. :D
But not only that, they switch me to a flight through Cleveland which departs Richmond at 6:30, giving me an extra 40 minutes which I will use to eat/blog/play online poker... And shockingly, this will get me in to Vegas at 10:30pm (PST obv)... a whole hour and a half before my scheduled arrival. Of course, delays can cause all of this to not work but still, it is off to a good start.
Oh and one last thing. Did I mention that my flight from Cleveland to Vegas is FIRST CLASS!? Yeah, I know... I run so goot!!!
I just hope I'm not using up all my luck before I even get to Vegas...
But not only that, they switch me to a flight through Cleveland which departs Richmond at 6:30, giving me an extra 40 minutes which I will use to eat/blog/play online poker... And shockingly, this will get me in to Vegas at 10:30pm (PST obv)... a whole hour and a half before my scheduled arrival. Of course, delays can cause all of this to not work but still, it is off to a good start.
Oh and one last thing. Did I mention that my flight from Cleveland to Vegas is FIRST CLASS!? Yeah, I know... I run so goot!!!
I just hope I'm not using up all my luck before I even get to Vegas...
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